Air whistle and control means therefor



J y 2, 1938- s. F. SCHUMACZHER 2,123,664

AIR WHISTLE AND CONTROL MEANS THEREFOR Filed May 5, 1937 s Sheets-Sheet 1 G Schumac 706T,

' J y 12, 1 s. F.'$CHUMACHER 2,123,664

AIR WHISTLE AND CONTROL MEANS THEREFOR 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 5, 1937 chumachelg y 1933- G. F. SCHUMACHER AIR WHISTLE AND CONTROL MEANS THEREFOR Filed May 5, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 G.Schumac7wf 5 EEE Patented July 12, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE AIR WHISTLE AND CONTROL MEANS THEREFOR Guy F. Schumacher, Elmhurst, Ill., assignor to American Flyer Manufacturing Company, Chicago, 11]., a corporation of Illinois Application May 5, 1937, Serial No. 140,968 9 Claims. (Cl. 11658) This invention relates to air whistles and to Figure 3 is a transverse section on the line control means therefor, and has for its general 33 of Fig. 1. objectto provide an improved air whistle of the Figure 4 is a sectional perspective view of the type including a fan or blower for producing the whistle and its control means.

5 required flow of air for its actuation, and to pro- Figure 5 is a bottom plan view of what is shown 5 vide a novel control means therefor to cause it in Fig. 2. to sound a blast, or a series of blasts, of pre- Figure 6 is a section on the line 6-6 of Fig. determined duration. 2; and

While the present whistle is capable of general Figure 7 is a perspective View of the manually 10 use, one particular use of the same is upon toy operable part to render the whistle operative 10 locomotives to simulate the whistle of a standard and inoperative.

locomotive, and in this connection one special Referring in detail to the practicable embodiobject of the invention is to provide a whistle ment of the invention illustrated in the drawings,

embodying a construction whereby it may readily A des gnates gen a ly a toy e e locomotive and easily be produced at a cost sufliciently low Which ay be of y design S ab e to have the to permit its use upon relatively low cost toy present Whistle and control means mounted locomotives and the like. thereon and which includes, as usual, an electric Another object of the invention is to provide motor, designated generally as It, mounted in a a whistle embodying a construction whereby it frame I! and having on its armature shaft a may readily and easily be applied to toy locomopinion l2 operating through an idler gear 13 in 20 tiVes of known designs without requiring changes mesh with gears M on the locomotive drive in the toy locomotive construction. Wheels I 5 to drive said wheels.

Another object of the invention is to provide The present whistle comprises a closed casa Whistle which operates with sustained volume ing I6 having therein, at one end thereof, a fan and resonance. chamber I! and, at its other end, a pressure 2 Another object of the invention is to provide chamber 18, in major par Separated from t a simple, inexpensive, yet entirely practicable Chamber IT by a partition l9. However, as best control means for the present whistle which, as shown in Figs. 4 and 6, the partition [9 is spaced in the case of the whistle, is capable of ready a its tt m a small distance up y r m application to a toy locomotive and which is the bottom of the casing IE to provide a narrow 30 operable to cause the whistle to sound a blast, s ageway, de d as efiolding or a series of blasts, of predetermined duration. municatioh between the fan a p essure cham- Another object of the invention is to provide hers and a simple means manually operable at will to ren- In the bottom Wall Of the Casing directly der the whistle operative and inoperative reeath the passagew y is an Opening 2! 35 gardless of operation of it ntr means, which is narrow and otherwise of suitable size,

With the foregoing and other objects in View, Shape and design such that flowing from the which will become more fully apparent as the casing l6 therethrough produces a whistling nature of the invention is better understood, the Sound- 4 same consists in the novel features of construc- In the fslde walls of h fan Chamber 9m tion, combination and arrangement of parts as of h e are opemngs 22 will be hereinafter more fully described, illusof to t fan chamber and Wlthm Said fan trated in the accompanying drawings and deh t 1s fan 23.0f any suitable type for fined in the appended claims producing a flow of air from sa1d fan chamber to the passageway 20 and the opening 2| and In the accompanying drawings, wherein like characters of reference denote corresponding through Sam passageway to the pressure cham ,t th dfi t ber l8. pal.s In i 1 .eren w When the fan 23 is in operation, air is drawn Figure 1 1S a side elevation of a toy locomotive into the fan chamber [1 through the openings eqlllpped h the p ent whlstle and Control 22 and is delivered through the passageway 20 50 means therefor accordmg to practicable to the opening 2| and to the pressure chamber I8. embodiment Of the inven ion, p s being broken If the opening 2| is covered or otherwise blanked ay to s o 0ther,under1ying p the whistle will not operate, and in that event Figure 2 is a horizontal section on the line the pressure chamber l8 serves to reduce back 22 of Fig, 1. pressure against the fan 23. If, on the other 55 toy locomotives.

hand, the opening 2i is uncovered, air will issue therethrough from the fan and the pressure chambers with a whistling sound, the pressure developed in the air chamber is causing the whistling sound produced to be resonant and to have sustained volume even though there may be slight variations in the speed of rotation of the fan.

One side and the top, bottom and end portions of the whistle casing i6 may be cast in one piece and the other side of said casing may be made removable to permit insertion of the fan 23; or, said fan casing may be economically produced in any other suitable manner. Likewise, the fan itself may be cast or economically produced in any other suitable manner. In any event, it is apparent that the whistle includes primarily only a casing and a fan and that these are readily capable of such economical production and assembly as to permit of their use, from an economical point of view, on low cost products such as On the other hand, it is equally apparent that the whistle may be produced in a form to render it suitable for general use, as, for example, on large locomotives, boats and the like.

The power plants of toy locomotives are more or less standardized and the frames thereof usually include a pair of side plates spaced a definite distance apart. These side plates afford convenient supports between and upon which to mount the present whistle. Accordingly, in producing the present whistle for use upon toy locomotives, its casing 16 is formed of a width such that it may readily be disposed between the side plates of the locomotive power plant frame. Space is available between the side plates at the rear end of the frame to accommodate one end portion of the whistle casing, and in accordance with the present invention the front or fan chamber end portion of the whistle casing i6 is disposed between said frame side plates and is secured therebetween by screws 2 -3 passed loosely through openings in said side plates and threaded into said casing. Alternatively, the casing l6 may be mounted on the locomotive in any other suitable location and in any other desired manner.

The fan 23 is mounted upon a shaft 25 which is journaled in suitable bearings in the side walls of the casing l and which, at one end, projects beyond the related side of the casing 16 for connection in any suitable manner with any suitable driving means for effecting rotation of said fan. In the present instance, the projecting end of the shaft 25 carries a pinion 2b which is in mesh with a gear 2'! rotatably mounted on a stub shaft 28 carried by one of the side plates of the frame I I, and there is formed with or fixed to the gear 21 a pinion 29 which is in mesh with the gear M on one of the locomotive drive wheels i5. Therefore, whenever the locomotive A is in motion traveling along its track rails 36, the fan 23 is driven.

To render the whistle manually operative and inoperative at will, a plate a: is slidably disposed against the bottom of the casing it for forward and rearward movement relative to said casing to uncover and cover the opening 25. As a convenient means of slidably mounting said plate, the same maybe provided with a side extension 32 disposed against one side of the casing 56 and said extension may have therein an elongated slot 33 in which may be disposed a shouldered stud 3 3 which may be threaded into the casing. Moreover, as a convenient'means of holding the plate 3! in its operative and inoperative positions, the stud 34 may have a head 35 and between said head and the side extension 32 may be disposed a spring element 36 of any suitable type to press the extension against the side of the casing and thus cause movement thereof to be frictionally resisted. On the side extension 32 is a fingerpiece 32 for effecting sliding movement of the plate 3!.

'The present means for controlling the number and the duration of blasts emitted by the whistle comprises a member 3'! movable to cover and uncover the opening 2| when the plate 3! is in its position uncovering said opening; a cam 38 for moving said member 37!, and a driving means 39 for said cam. In the present instance the member 3! is in the form of a plate disposed beneath the whistle casing E6 in underlying relationship to the plate 3! and pivoted as at All near its front end to a front end portion of the whistle casing l6 for vertical swinging movement whereby its rear end portion, which underlies the opening 2i, may be swung upwardly to close said opening and downwardly to uncover said opening. Normally the plate 3'? is urged upwardly by a suitable spring 4! which, in the present instance, is a coil spring interposed between the under side of said plate and the head of a stud 32 which is carried by the bottom wall of the whistle casing and extends through slots in the plates 3! and 31.

At its rear end the plate 31 is provided with a finger 13 with which cooperates the cam 38. The cam 33 underlies the finger 43 and in the present instance is in the form of a substantially horizontally disposed, rotatable disk having upstanding marginal lobes or protuberances M5 for direct engagement and coaction with the finger '33. As the disk rotates the lobes or protuberances 44 thereof successively engage and raise the finger 43 and thus swing the plate 31 to uncover the opening 2|. Depending upon the number, the spacing and the circumferential extent of the lobes or protuberances ill. and assuming rotation of the cam disk at a constant rate, the whistle obviously will be caused to sound a blast, or a series of blasts, of predetermined sequence and duration.

In the present instance-the cam 38 is carried by a worm gear 65 which is rotatably mounted upon a stud 46 threaded into a boss 41 on the casing l6 and which is driven by a worm 48 mounted on one of the locomotive axles 49. Thus, during travel of the locomotive along its track, the whistle will be periodically operated in accordance with the control thereof afforded by the cam 38.

Without further description it is thought that the features and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and it will of course be understood that changes in the form, proportion and minor details of construction may be resorted to, without departing from the spirit of the invention and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An air whistle comprising a casing having an air emission opening, means for generating air pressure in said casing, a member manually operable to cover and uncover said opening, a driven member, and means operable by said driven member to cover and uncover said opening during time periods of predetermined sequence and duration when said manually operable member is in its position uncovering said opening.

2. An air whistle comprising a casing having a pressure chamber and an opening for emission of air from said chamber, means for supplying air to said chamber, a member slidable on the casing and manually operable to cover and uncover said opening, a member pivoted on the casing for covering and uncovering said opening when said slidable member is in uncovering relation thereto, means tending constantly to swing said pivoted member to cover said opening, and driven means for eifecting swinging movement of said pivoted member to uncover said opening during time periods of predetermined sequence and duration.

3. A whistle comprising a casing to be supplied with an operating fluid, said casing having a fluid emission opening, a member manually'opera-ble to cover and uncover said opening, a second member for covering and uncovering said. opening when said first member is in uncovering relationship thereto, means tending constantly to move said second mentioned member to cover said opening, and driven means operatively connected with said second mentioned member and eifective to move the latter to uncover said opening during time periods of predetermined sequence and duration.

4. A whistle as set forth in claim 3 in which the manually operable member is disposed between the casing and the second mentioned member.

5. A whistle as set forth in claim 3 in which the manually operable member comprises a plate slidably mounted between the casing and the second mentioned member.

6. A whistle as set forth in claim 3 in which the manually operable member is disposed between the casing and the second mentioned member and in which the second mentioned member is pivoted for swinging movement toward and from the casing to cover and uncover the air emission opening.

'7. In a toy locomotive, an air whistle comprising a casing having an air emission opening, a fan for forcing air through said opening, means for driving said fan, a plate slidably mounted on the casing for manual adjustment to cover and uncover said opening, a member pivotally mounted intermediate its ends on said casing for rocking movement to cover and uncover said opening when said plate is in uncovering relationship thereto, a rotatable disk having cam formations thereon cooperating with said pivoted member to rock the same, and means for rotating said disk.

8. In a toy locomotive, an air whistle comprising a casing having an air emission opening, means for forcing air from said casing through said opening, a member manually operable to cover and uncover said opening, a second member pivotally mounted intermediate its ends and having one end portion thereof disposed to be moved toward and from the casing to cover and uncover said opening by pivotal movements of said member, and driven cam means for actuating said second member.

9. In a toy locomotive, an air whistle comprising a casing having an air emission opening, means for forcing air from said casing through said opening, a member slidably mounted on said casing for adjustment to cover and uncover said opening, a second member operable to cover and uncover said opening when said first mentioned member is in uncovering relationship thereto, and driven cam means for actuating said second mentioned member.

GUY F. SCHUMACHER. 

